End cover member



June 17, 1958 J. N. FINNERTY ETAL END COVER MEMBER Filed June 24, 1957INVENTORSZ JOSEPH NORRIS. FINNERTY WILLIAM E VOLKERT,JR.

ATT YS.

United States Patent END COVER MEMBER Joseph Norris Finnerty, Norwood,and William F. Volkert, Jr., Philadelphia, Pa., assignors to Proctor &Schwartz, Inc., Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of PennsylvaniaApplication June 24, 1957, Serial No. 667,532 4 Claims. (CI. 40-40) Thepresent invention relates to an end cover member for the open-endedgrooved members normally mounted on supermarket shelving and the like toreceive tickets indicating the price of the articles on the shelf.

The conventional super-market shelving" includes grooved members whichproject outwardly from the shelving to receive price tickets and thelike. When the super-market is crowded, customers may brush against theexposed end of the grooved member, catching their clothing and oftentearing it. When a customer complains, the customer relations policy ofthe super-market normally requires that the customer be reimbursed forthe damage to his clothing. In some locations this happens with suchfrequency that the payments amount to a considerable sum of money overthe year. It is impractical to mount the grooved members in recesses inthe shelving or to burnish the ends to prevent them from causing damage.

With the foregoing in mind, the primary object of the present inventionis to provide an end member which is mounted on the grooved member atthe end thereof to provide a protective guard.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an end member ofthe stated character which is readily demountable and remountable whenchanging price tickets and the like in the grooved member.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an improvedmember and blank therefor which is of simple manufacture, and is fullyeffective in operation and use.

All of the objects of the present invention and the various features anddetails of the construction and operation thereof are more fully setforth hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing an end member made inaccordance with the present invention detached from the grooved memberof the shelving;

Fig. 2 is a view showing the end member located in position in thegrooved member of the shelving;

Fig. 3 is a detached perspective view of the end member;

Fig. 4 is a view in slide elevation of the end member showing in brokenlines the position that it assumes when properly engaged in the groovedmember of the shelving; and

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the blank from which the end member is formed.7

Referring now to Figs. 1 and 2, the conventional supermarket shelvin-gcomprises the shelf proper 10 having a grooved facing piece 11 thereon.The facing piece comprises an exposed concave backing 12 having at itsupper and lower side edges respectively, reversely turned lips 13 and14spaced outwardly from the backing element 12 to define therewithopposite open ended grooves 15 and 16. Price tickets or other indiciaelements 17 are adapted to be slidably received between the grooves andnormally bear against the buttoms of said grooves and assume arearwardly concave or rearwardly bowed configuration as 2,838,860Patented June 17, 1958 Nice shown in'Figs. 1 and 2. The face piece 11 atits ends is open for the reception of the indicia elements 17, andfrequently are rough. In any event, the ends of the piece 11 provide ahazard for attaching clothing and the like when customers brush againstthem. 7

In accordance with the present invention and end cover element isprovided to engage in the grooves 15 and 16 and bear against the end ofthe shelving element 11. H'erewithin the element 21, which is preferablyformed of a resiliently flexible material such as plastic or the like,comprises a body portion 22 having a transverse dimension greater thanthe spacing between the bottoms of the grooves 15 .and 16 but less thanthe length of the backing element between the bottoms of the grooves.The body portion is adapted to be inserted between the grooves 15 and 16and will therefore flex and assume the bowed form shown in Fig. 2. Theflexure of the body portion insures a firm frictional engagement of thebody portion with the bottoms of the grooves 15 and 16 to preventinadvertent displacement of the member 21. Intentional displacement, onthe other hand, is easily achieved against the frictional engagement ofthe body portion 22 in the grooves.

The body portion 22 terminates at one end in areduced neck portion 23which mounts at its remote end an outturned leg portion 24. The leg porton 24 is disposed at approximately 105 to the neck portion along a foldline indicated at 25 in Fig. 5. The fold line 25 tends to maintain thebody portion rigid and flat for the full extent of the fold line, butthe marginal portions of the body portion 22 which extend beyond thefold line by reason of the reduced neck portion 23 afford sufficientflexure of the body portion to fit within the grooves 15 and 16. Asshown in Fig. 2, the leg portion 24 projects outwardly beyond the faceof the body portion 22 and extends laterally beyond the side edges ofthe neck 23 whereby the leg port-ion effectively covers the ends of thereversely turned lips 13 and 14.

To provide a finished appearance to the element 21, the leg portion 24at its outer extremity is provided with a cover portion 26 extendingrearwardly generally parallel to the leg portion beyond the neck portion23 to engage against the end edge of the shelving 10, as shown in Fig.2. Thus the cover portion 26 covers the backing piece 12 of the element11. The cover element 26 is joined to the leg portion 24 by a pair ofclosely spaced parallel fold lines 27, 28. To insure proper folding onthe lines 27 and 28, and to provide a decorative effect, the end covermember 21 is notched as indicated at 29 and 30 at the opposite ends ofthe fold lines 27 and 28.

As pointed out above, the leg member projects at an angle ofapproximately 105 to the body member 22. Thus, for reason of theparallel relation between the cover portion 26 and the leg portion 24the cover portion projects behind the body portion 22 at an angle ofapproximately thereto. When the cover member 21 is assembled to theshelving, the body portion 22 is inserted to a sufficient depth that theleg portion 24 bears against the free edges of the lips 13 and 14. Thecover portion, by reason of its engagement with the end edge of theshelf 10 is flexed outwardly about the fold line 25 causing the leg andcover portions 24 and 26 to assume the perpendicular position to thebody portion 22 which is shown in broken lines at 24' and 26 in Fig. 4.

The end cover element is simply formed from a onepiece blank. As shownin Fig. 5, the blank is cut out or otherwise formed with elementscorresponding to the elements 22, 24 and 26. The blank is then foldedalong the lines 25, 27 and 28 to the form shown in Figs. 3 and 4 and thedevice is ready for assembly to the shelving.

In the foregoing specification and drawings, the preferred embodiment ofthe invention has been illustrated a and. described, but'various.changes and modifications are possible to provide varied ornamentaleffects and to accommodate shelving having slightly differentcharacteristics. The cover member is therefore susceptible ofmodification within the scope of the followingclaims:

We claim;

1. An elongated blank for an end cover member formed of resilientfiexible sheet material comprising a bodyrportion of generallyrectangular outline terminating at, one end in-a reduced neck portionhaving a transverse fold line at the remote edge thereof, a leg portionextending beyond said fold line and projecting transversely outwardbeyond said neck portion and the periphery of said body portion andterminating at its remote edge in a double transverse fold line parallelto the fold line intermediate said neck and legportions, and an endcover-portion extending beyondsaid legpor-tion having a transverse di- Imension corresponding substantially to the transverse dimension of saidleg portion and having a longitudinal dimension greater than thelongitudinal dimension of said portion.

2. A blank according to claim 1 including notches at the opposite endsof said double fold line to further demarcate the leg and end coverportions of said blank.

3. For the open end of super-market shelving and the like having anexposed concave backing element tenninating at opposite side edges inreversely-turned lips spaced outwardly from said element to definetherewith apposite open-ended grooves for slidably mounting there-.

between the opposite side edges of indicia elements, an end cover memberof resiliently flexible sheet material comprising a body portion havinga transverse dimension greater than the spacing intermediate the bottomsof said mounting grooves whereby upon insertion of said body portioninto said grooves said body portion is transversely bowed, said bodyportion, terminating at one end in a reduced neck portion to affordfiexure of said body portion inot said bowed configuration, anout-turned leg portion at the remote end of said reduced neck portionadapted upon'insertion of said body portion into said grooves to seatagainst the open end of said shelving, and cover the reversely-turnedlips thereof, and a cover portion disposed parallel tosaid leg portionand connected thereto at the outer extremity thereof, said cover portionextending rearwardly beyond said neck portion to cover backing of theshelving.

4. An end cover member according to claim 3 wherein said leg portionis-normally disposed at an obtuse angle to said neck portion and isoperable to be flexed and disposed perpendicular thereto upon engagementof said cover portion with the backing as the member is seated againstthe open end thereof.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

